Antarctic Sound , 11/15/2024, National Geographic Explorer
Aboard the
National Geographic Explorer
Antarctica
We arrived in the early hours to the Antarctic Peninsula as National Geographic Explorer made her way into Antarctic Sound, navigating through ice flows and penguins towards the fast ice attached to Joinville Island. As the ship pushed into the ice and the gangway was lowered for ice walks, it seems every Adelie penguin within sight wanted to check us out!
The afternoon was spent finding leopard seals, Weddell seals, and all the brush-tailed penguins around the ice before those brave/silly enough aboard went for a polar plunge.
Jamie is from England. He grew up in Oxford, about as far from the sea as you can get in the UK, yet somehow decided he would work in marine biology and conservation. Ever since he reached his teens, he has dedicated time to this passion, working and...
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South Georgia on my mind. It has been on our minds for some time now, and this morning we finally set foot on the island that is David Attenborough’s favorite place on Earth. And it sure lives up to its reputation. At least 25,000 pairs of king penguins met us as we landed at Gold Harbour. Low winds and warm sunshine made it a contrast to our last stop, the South Orkneys. Some of us headed up toward Gold Head, while others enjoyed the hustling and bustling of the colony on the beach. Cooper Bay has always been a spectacular site for a Zodiac cruise. The rugged geology and the surrounding kelp forests offer an experience in sensory overload. We also observed the elusive macaroni penguin. These penguins live in Cooper Bay and other inaccessible places on the island. They can be hard to get to, despite being the most numerous penguins in South Georgia, with at least two million individuals. It was a stunning first day of adventure around this beautiful isle.
Today we arrived in the South Orkney Islands, and after breakfast we were invited to load into our Zodiacs for a cruise of the pass between Monroe and Coronation Island. We had a wonderful outing with winds and snow. We were lucky to see Antarctic fur seals, Weddell seals, and leopard seals along the shoreline and even witnessed a penguin falling prey to one of the leopard seals! After a quick lunch on National Geographic Endurance , we repositioned to Signy Island for our second activity of the day. We were all whisked ashore for an afternoon hike. We trekked over the island in our groups, dodging fur seals who often took an interest in us and tried to take chase. We managed to escape unscathed and enjoyed a wonderful hike over the fresh snow. We also saw some seals hauled out, molting male southern elephant seals which were huge, bellowing at each other. After our wonderful hike we returned to the ship ready to warm up but were immediately called to the bridge to see a very rare sighting - not one, but four blue whales!! It was an amazing encounter and one not many get to see. It perfectly wrapped up the day and we made our way back to the Ice Lounge for recap.
National Geographic Endurance left the Antarctic Peninsula and sailed enroute to the South Orkney Islands, making its way through ice and calm waters. We observed multiple whale species feeding in the nutrient rich waters. There were humpbacks, minkes, and a pod of fin whales who were travelling with a blue whale! The seabirds were struggling with the light winds, however, it gave us a chance to observe them closely and get great photographs. We are saddened to leave Antarctica, but more than excited for the islands of South Orkney and South Georgia ahead.
